You are at home on a Friday night when your friend calls to see if you want to grab some dinner and see the new Zac Efron movie. You look into your wallet in search of some cash and frown upon discovering that it is empty. Where did all your money go? Oh yes, you spent it last week when you signed up for your AP exams.
Each year CHS students are subjected to the torture of doling out hundreds of dollars for these exams administered by the College Board. Each exam costs $89, and most students take more than one exam in a given year. Students should not be required to pay such exorbitant prices for these tests.
While CHS offers wonderful opportunities for academic stimulation, the high-stress environment often encourages students to take more AP classes than they probably should. Students feel as though they need to take multiple AP classes each year in order to bulk up their resumes and be competitive applicants for top universities.
Along with the intense curriculum of multiple AP’s, students who take these classes are also basically required to take the expensive exam at the end of the year. Those who chose not to are required to take a purposely more difficult test created by the teacher. In this way, students feel even more pressure to spend their money on the College Board exam.
Many CHS students work in order to pay for their daily expenses. At minimum wage, these earnings take a lot of effort. These students should not have to put their well-earned cash toward an exam that will likely not count towards college credit in the future.
Along with AP exams, students are also bombarded by other costs imposed by the College Board. Students are pressured to pay to take the SAT or ACT multiple times in order to achieve a highly competitive score. Do not forget about SAT subject tests, which are becoming required by more and more schools. Each of these exams costs up to $50. Combined with the price of AP exams, the costs charged by the College Board can really add up and financially upset many families.
Seniors are especially affected by the ridiculous prices of the exams. Student often take significantly more AP classes in their senior year, and thus many AP exams in May. Along with AP exams, seniors must account for the incredible costs of college applications, graduation expenses, prom costs and more. These students should not be subjected to paying such high prices for AP exams when they have so many other financial obligations.
Some may argue that if we did not pay for the AP exams individually, the cost of the exams would be collected in other ways, such as through government funding with increased taxes, or payment by colleges with increases in tuition. However the $89 price tag seems excessively high for a final exam, and so there needs to be a happy medium that will satisfy both the College Board and the students.
College Board, please stop taking all our money and forcing us to pay hundred each year for these dreaded exams. Students should be able to focus on studying for these tests in May instead of stressing out about how they will gather the money to pay for them.
